Strained
by amalimrock
Summary: Alternate Universe fanfic. When both Yvonne and Jim's parents pass away, they suffer the hardships of being orphaned together. It wasn't until Yvonne quit school to start working at a diner that their sibling relationship becomes complicated & strained.


AU fanfic: Strained

Disclaimer: Treasure Planet belongs to Disney. This Alternate Universe story and Yvonne belongs to me. This was inspired by the YouTube fan video by xNightShadex of her Non/Disney crossover of Jim and Hogarth Hughes titled "Stained" (oh gee, I'm soooo original with titles)

She tossed and tumbled in her bed, unable to shake the horrifying images off her head. From her adjacent room a narrative voice was heard from a certain holo-book - her brother was staying up to read again. That noise didn't bother her as much as her tainted memories, bloody memories on how the two of them ended up here and now. The last moments with a real family, a set of parents, role models to look up to…

She got up from her bed and walked to her brother's room.

"Jimboy!" she abruptly entered from the door. The young boy quickly shut the book and pretended like nothing happened.

She sighed, "I thought you were asleep an hour ago."

"But Yvonne, I was just getting to the best part," he sat up and held the book to his tiny 3 year old body. "Please?"

Yvonne shrugged, knowing her brother was blackmailing her emotionally. "Scootch over," the preteen finally said and crawled up Jim's bed. The boy opened the book enthusiastically and once again the voice began narrating their favourite story again.

"Like a Candarian zapwing overtaking its prey, Flint and his band of renegades swooped in out of nowhere..." while the story was narrated images of pirates and officials fighting were depicted, but the violence was downplayed to suit a younger audience like Jim. The gully of the buccaneers swung down and opened a chest full of gold, and Flint held it in his hands, laughing evilly in content. The narrator continued, "And gathering up their spoils, vanish without a trace." With that they both responded, "Ooh" while Jim flipped the page over. Yvonne began to yawn out of fatigue; while the narrator of the holobook kept going "Word has it that Flints trove was stowed away in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, the loot of a thousand worlds." Jim simultaneously said "Treasure Planet" with the narrator.

"Ok Jim, blow your nose." Yvonne took a piece of tissue and offered it to Jim, and her younger brother blew into it. He then climbed up the bedpost "How do you think Flint did it, sis?" He prepared to jump off the post "How he'd swoop in out of nowhere-" he jumped, and Yvonne, out of instincts, extended her arms but failed to catch him. The preteen shook her head as Jim continued "-and vanish without a trace?" he hid under the blankets after he finished his question.

"I don't know Jim...Come here, you!" she pulled her brother out of the covers, with a giggle she uncovered part of Jim's belly and blew into it affectionately, earning a squeal from him. "Now it's time for this spacer to go to sleep." she tucked his blanket up to Jim's torso.

"One day I'll be an explorer and discover Treasure Planet, sis. Won't you be happy for me?" Jim asked out of curiosity.

"Jimboy, I think it's more...of a legend." said Yvonne.

"I know it's real." Jim rebuttled.

"You win. It's real, and I'll be proud."

"And mom and dad too?"

"Yes, mom and dad too." With that she kissed him on the forehead and bid him goodnight and left for her room.

That managed to ease her mind a bit, but before long the flashbacks began to haunt her once more.

* * *

It seemed like a fine morning at first, but it didn't last long as scents of smoke began to fill the air, Yvonne abruptly got up from her bed and checked out what was wrong. As soon as she opened her bedroom door, flames were seen licking at the stairs and its railing. Her dad was seen struggling to get up, who was at the same time carrying a sound asleep Jim.

"Dad!" Yvonne screamed and went up to the struggling figure. "What happened?"

"Pirates," he coughed. "Take care…your brother. Run!" Before Yvonne's eyes, she saw her dad writhing, coughing hard due to the lack of air and he even struggled to hold onto 20-month old Jim.

She took Jim into her arms, who was holding his beloved book tightly. "Mom?" her voice stuttered as tears began to fill her eyes.

Her dad only shook his head, and then, taking one more breath, passed out.

Yvonne knew there wasn't much time before the pirates would catch up to them. So, taking her blanket and other long cloths found in the room, tied them together and secured it by the balcony. There was no time to think, so she - while carrying her brother in one hand - slid off the cloth, and the grass below broke her fall. Straining to get up, she began to run from the sight of the flames licking the house. She held her brother tightly, promising not to let him get hurt. "Help!" she screamed as soon as she was far enough from the burning building. "Somebody!" her legs began to scream in pain as well. "Anybody…" her breaths were heavy, exhausted from the traumatic event. "Help…" the world began to fade around her, before long…

* * *

"AAHHH!" she hastily got up. No matter how hard she tried, the memories from 11 years ago never left her dreams. Suddenly, the scent of burning began to fill her nose again, "Jimboy!" she screamed as she ran downstairs, only to find that her brother and the adoption centre's housekeeper were making toast bread.

"Rise and shine, Yvonne." The housekeeper greeted.

She grunted, "I have got to stop panicking at the scent of smoke." She then picked up her glass of juice and then took two slices of toast bread with her as she got ready to work at the diner again.

"Hey sis!" Jim called from the dining table. "Wanna see me ride my newly built solar surfer?"

She sighed as she exited the door, "Some other time, ok?"

Jim sank into the seat, "Why is she always ignoring me?" he took a small bite on the toast bread.

"Jim," the housekeeper explained, "she's always busy working so she can cope up with your needs - your studies, clothes, even some spare parts for you to tinker with." She set aside a dirty plate. "Now, eat up, you don't wanna be late for school."

With that, he bit into the last piece of toast and got his school bag. Bidding her goodbye, Jim ignited the engines of his solar surfer and sailed off.

_Why can't she spend more time with me like before? She's already earning enough to sustain the two of us, and the rental. I don't need anything else but to know she's ok…_

Meanwhile at the diner, Yvonne cleared up a table and then signaled the guests to sit down. She entered the kitchen, placed the dirty dishes and utensils at the sink and began scrubbing, at the meantime staying far away from the stove to prevent another panic to strike her again.

It was really difficult to get both Yvonne and Jim adopted, because they had to be adopted together, as Yvonne vowed to do so after the death of her parents – and this earned the sympathy of the housekeeper too so that they were organized to be adopted together. Jim was very likable, showing he was a smart child to every potential adopter by boasting his own hand-built solar surfers; it was Yvonne that drove all of them away because of her weird quirks and pyrophobia, and the fact that she was past 12 years old also made it harder for them to be adopted. When it was only she and Jim left in the adoption centre, she quit school in order to support Jim's needs and ended up working at the Blue Lagoon Diner's, the one she's in now.

Jim feigned sickness and got out of school. His intentions of doing so weren't bad though, no peer pressure, no outside influence from his so called friends. Riding his solar surfer he looked down to where Blue Lagoon was located and he got off. Securing his surfer to a stand, he entered to find that Yvonne was entertaining the guests as a stand up comedian with her lute.

"-and so the Felid said…" Yvonne paused, not for effect, but she saw her brother in the diner, while school was still on. The notes of her lute stopped ringing as well. "JIM?"

The crowd had bewildered expressions, not getting the joke, and then turned their heads to where she was looking at.

"Heya sis!" Jim waved.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Yvonne was dumbfounded. How could her brother skip school just like that?

"Well, I just wanted to see if you're ok. That's all."

She looked at him awkwardly, before she ended her act with "Well it seems there's some technical difficulties here so I'm sorry that this act had to be cut short." which earned her jeers from the crowd but she didn't care. She set aside her lute. The voices became mute around her, as she took step by step closer to her brother.

_Why should he be worried about me now? His grades are slipping. He should worry about himself more than me anyway. I'm doing…fine…or at least I think I am…_

"Jimboy," Yvonne began. "I'm fine."

A smoldering scent began to fill the air.

"But you don't look ok these days." Jim argued.

"You and your persistence again." Yvonne cut him off.

A giant candle was being lit and sparks began to fly off from the top of the cake.

"What happened to your eyes?" Jim pointed out her dark rings, still wanting to know the truth. "Did you get into a fight?"

"People don't get into fights in diners Jim, you think too much."

A small group of family members began singing "Happy Birthday". As Yvonne looked over her shoulder, she saw the brilliant orange-yellow light flicker, and before her eyes, she saw the building burn down. Suddenly, she held Jim tightly to her body, and her brother struggled against her tight grip, gasping for air.

"YVONNE!" Jim cried, "Let me go!"

Immediately she reached for a fire extinguisher and sprayed the liquid frantically, trying to extinguish the inferno she saw before her eyes. Screams began to fill her ears and she became more terrified, hugging her brother closer as she retreated into a corner while still spraying the extinguisher.

When it was over, the customers were drenched in foamy liquid, the birthday boy began sobbing because his candle extinguished before he blew it. "What's this hullabaloo?" The boss came out from the kitchen to check out what's going on.

A patron came up to the husky boss and said, "I will never come back here to dine again. Ever!" and then took the birthday boy and escorted him out of the block.

The boss looked over to see who started the foamy mess, and immediately he spotted a cowering Yvonne holding an extinguisher in one hand and her brother in the other.

"Yvonne," he boomed. "You're fired!"

* * *

"Well, thanks a lot!" Yvonne smacked her brother at the back of his head. "Smarty pants!"

"How is this my fault?" Jim retorted. "I was just checking on you!"

"You should've just stayed at school and out of my way," Yvonne yelled back. "I was this close to getting a pay rise and you had to come here and ruin it all for me!"

Tears began to fill Jim's eyes, "Well I'm sorry, sis. I really just –"

"Well if you really think it's that easy to get a job without education then quit it now! Go work as some street cleaner or something."

"But I –"

"Go back to school. And heaven better help you if I don't see you bucking up your grades."

"But my school –"

"Get out of my sight!"

Biting his lips, Jim turned and ran for his solar surfer and lit up its engines, leaving Yvonne alone out in the street to do whatever she needs to do. He didn't feel the need to wipe the tears on his cheeks because he thought the air was going to blow them dry.

"_Jim, don't you have bigger dreams?" Yvonne said to me one day. Of course I do, or at least I did. Circumstances are telling me that I'm not going to be a spacer anytime soon. "You must study hard and get good grades…" Ever since she got into the Blue Lagoon, we began to spend less and less time together. It's like the place was straining her, she began to come back later than usual, and sometimes I had to tuck myself to sleep because she comes back past my bedtime. "99 bottles of rum, yo-ho, 99 bottles of rum…" I used to ask her for help with my homework, and show her how to ride a solar surfer. Now all I get is just an "I'm home" greeting or none at all. _

_If I can't end up as a spacer, I can always go work as a mechanic, or some easy to do jobs that has a decent pay. A waiter sounds good; I don't need too much money to survive anyway._

_It's true my grades are slipping, but it's because I'm worried for her wellbeing. Why can't she see that? Is she beginning to hate me? Who am I to her now?_

Bad rumours began spreading around school about Jim a few weeks ago due to the countless times he's skipped school. Those rumours of course, wasn't true. Countless students whispered into each other's ears, or give uneasy smirks as Jim walks past the corridor every lunch break. Jim's head was constantly in the clouds, worrying for his big sister that started to become distant from him. He doesn't have the right mind to clear his name in school, because his role model in his life wasn't the one he used to have.

_As much as I want her to stop working at Blue Lagoon, I still can't help feeling really guilty for her losing her job. I'm not gonna go back to school today…I just want my home._

* * *

"_Yvonne, you're the best sister I can ever have!" Jim said to me one day. I really miss the times when the only big thing to worry about is one's grades in school. I really do. But since we're the only ones left and our housekeeper was lacking the money to pay the maintenance fees of the house, I had to get a job. After all, she had to put up with the two of us, well, actually, mostly me, due to my bouts of panic that I get just from seeing fire. _

_Now that I've lost my job, I'm lost. I was this close to getting a better pay, but it was ruined, because of me, and only me. I don't feel I even deserve to be Jim's elder sister. Of course I don't hate him for that mess previously, but I think I must've been too harsh on him. _

Yvonne went to the nearest park and climbed up a tree. Before that she managed to spot her brother's surfer headed to the direction of their adoption centre instead of school. She began to sob on her own as thoughts of her and her brother went by her head.

_I've always been a burdening anchor to Jim's potential. "When I grow up, I'll find Flint's trove, and then I'll be the most famous spacer of all time!" The many times I've tried to impress our potential adopters I've always failed to make that good impression because something always had to go wrong. What kind of a big sister am I? "Take care of your brother. Run!" I try to fulfill my vow, but it just made Jim's life a lot worse. He should've been adopted by now; as for me…I can take care of myself. "Are you sure, sis?" I can always busk in the streets, and when I earn enough I can actually afford my music lessons and when I do earn more than that I can give Jim a better life than this. _

* * *

Jim fumbled around the dials and switches of a puzzle out of boredom. The evening rain began to pour on Montressor again. He sat the puzzle aside and went to shut the windows, preventing the rain from entering the room.

All this while he had no idea what really happened with his real mom and dad. He only recalled that they got into this adoption centre when they stumbled upon it about 7 years ago. Countless times he and his sister trespassed into privately owned property, or lived in an abandoned house, in which weeks later the government tore it down to build a new building. They were vagrants, orphaned children with no place to live, until they found the nicest housekeeper ever and lived here comfortably.

A creaking noise was heard downstairs; perhaps it was Yvonne? He decided to sneak downstairs to get a look.

"Thanks for having to put up with us all this time." Yvonne said as she wiped the rain off her face and lute. "Well, mostly me."

"Oh, don't say that, Yvonne. I'd be happy to have you both around."

"Well, actually, it's more about Jim."

Jim took a few steps back to hear his name being mentioned.

"What about him?" the housekeeper asked.

"I want him adopted without me." Yvonne said blatantly. "I've been straining his potential back for too long."

Both Jim and the housekeeper were taken aback. "Why so? You've been a good sister the entire time!"

"Does yelling at him over my own mistake sound like a good sister to you?" sighed Yvonne. "I'm going on my own tomorrow morning. I'll start packing."

"Don't be ridiculous, Yvonne." the housekeeper argued. "He needs you."

"He needs proper parents. And all this time I've only been telling him lies about them. I only told him that they died in a kitchen accident but he doesn't know that our house was burned down by some blaggard pirates!" Yvonne rubbed her nose and sniffed, "Those times when we nearly had been adopted I had to do some freaky weird things, and I always thought it would win their hearts, but it repels them, they should've already had Jim adopted and finally have a life…but no. I…held him back countless times."

"But you're both here, with a roof, and each other, isn't that good enough?"

"I've been fired! If there's one person less in the block then it's easier for you to sustain Jim and get him adopted, and then reopen this adoption centre properly."

"Yvonne-"

"Nothing can change my mind. I'm going on my own tomorrow morning. I'm old enough to take care of myself." She walked upstairs to take a look at her brother one last time. She found him asleep, cuddling onto the "Treasure Planet" book again. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, letting a teardrop to fall on his face.

Jim only pretended to be asleep, before Yvonne left the door, he mumbled from his blanket "Please don't go…"

_Talking in his sleep again…_

She shut the door, leaving Jim to sob silently under the sheets.

_I need you, sis…no set of parents can replace your love. Please don't go…_

**Author's Note: There. I did it. Three full days and a one-shot idea that I hope managed to harp your heartstrings like how xNightShadex did with hers. I still can't believe I broke the canon here...and I hope this canon-breaking doesn't bother people too much. I originally wanted to do an epilogue to this but…I'm not too sure it'll be fitting for now. **

**ps: remember how in my TP sequel Canolin (actually Yvonne in this AU) said Jim reminds her of a little brother she used to have? This fic could be the other answer :P**


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